The Snapplify Foundation has worked with global edtech company Snapplify and leading South African academic publisher Juta to donate over 500 key e-textbooks to TSIBA Business School.

The business school, offering affordable undergraduate and postgraduate business qualifications to purpose-driven students, forms part of the TSIBA social enterprise, which aims to drive social change and take South Africa forward through world-class business education. 

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, TSIBA has had to think differently about how students and educators access the resources they need. 

Now, the higher education institution has received free copies of Juta’s top-quality e-textbooks, which users can access easily through Snapplify’s award-winning e-learning technology. The donation was made possible by the Snapplify Foundation, an NPO focused on making digital textbooks and e-learning solutions available for students and educational institutions that need them most. 

‘The Snapplify Foundation is looking to collaborate with partners across the broad education ecosystem in order to have a positive impact on education. Increasing access to ebooks is a crucial part of this, so we have been particularly pleased to work with Snapplify and Juta to make a real difference to an educational institution like TSIBA, which is already doing such important work,’ said the Snapplify Foundation’s Debra Ogilvie-Roodt. 

Acknowledging how the digital donation has given TSIBA students access to learning materials that they wouldn’t necessarily have been able to obtain otherwise, Philile Mabolloane, Juta’s Chief Revenue Officer, said: ‘For years, Juta has been proud to support TSIBA because we believe in the spirit of their mission to encourage transformation through education. The pandemic has made the delivery and use of physical books difficult, so we were delighted to be able to connect with the Snapplify Foundation and to be able to harness Snapplify’s technology to donate books digitally during this time.’ 

TSIBA’s Knowledge Curator Msimelelo Fana said, ‘We at TSIBA are very excited that Juta, Snapplify and the Snapplify Foundation have worked together to offer prescribed ebooks to our students and lecturing team. When we started teaching and learning online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to relook at our textbook offering, moving away from print to complement the online strategy. Our longstanding partner Juta came on board and Snapplify made the process of migration to ebooks seamless. We are indeed grateful for this milestone on our e-learning journey!’

The donation was facilitated by the recently established Snapplify Foundation, which aims to work locally with communities, government and the private sector, and globally with thought-leaders and the donor community, to build and manage interventions that help bridge the digital divide and increase access to education. 

Email hello@snapplifyfoundation.com to chat about how you can partner with the foundation to make digital education more accessible.

A new partnership between Snapplify and Tenacious Tutors will make access to tutoring services even easier for students. The development is in line with Snapplify’s strategy to effect meaningful change in the education industry through innovation, and collaboration with partners.

Snapplify, already well established in the African edtech industry, has recently become known for their Free Access programme, which launched earlier this year in response to COVID-19-related school closures. Through the Free Access programme, Snapplify has enabled access to more than 250 000 e-textbooks – at no cost to the students and parents struggling through the challenges of remote learning. 

Earlier this year, the pan-African edtech company announced the launch of Snapplify Cloud Services, making their award-winning technology available to other businesses. Now, online tutoring company Tenacious Tutors has harnessed Snapplify Access, the company’s education-specific authentication technology, to provide simple and seamless login and access to their e-learning services. 

‘Tenacious Tutors is proud and excited to be partnering with Snapplify. Snapplify is Africa’s leading educational resource distributor and this is 100% in line with the Tenacious Tutors’ vision to provide quality and affordable education throughout Africa,’ said Ridhwaan Basa, co-founder of Tenacious Tutors.

Snapplify’s mission to provide high-quality tools, to both businesses in the wider education ecosystem and education institutions directly, has also seen them integrating reading assessment tools powered by Scholastic’s Literacy Pro.

‘Scholastic is excited to partner with Snapplify to provide students and teachers in South Africa with access to their amazing range of ebooks and Scholastic’s award-winning reading assessment programme, Literacy Pro. Snapplify’s strong relationships with schools and the quality of their products align with Scholastic’s mission to enrich the lives of all children with the joy and power of reading. Together, our programmes will provide an engaging and academic reading experience that can easily be delivered in the classroom or at home, creating a new generation of confident and lifelong readers,’ said Zahid Khokhar of Scholastic.

These tools enable educators to administer proven literacy improvement programmes for students, and are helpful for developing the skills of both remedial and advanced readers. 

Snapplify’s focus on integrating tools that can help to boost literacy rates and encourage reading ties directly into the vision and mission of the Snapplify Foundation, which seeks to accelerate social and digital inclusion through increased access to educational tools that can be used in literacy interventions. 

‘Snapplify is always searching for ways to support students through their education journey. Having seen the power of collaborative partnerships, time and time again, to grow the education industry through sustainable, purposeful developments, we are particularly proud of our relationships with partners like Scholastic and Tenacious Tutors,’ said Tarryn-Anne Anderson, Snapplify’s Growth Director.

Thousands of schools have already joined the Snapplify Engage family. Register online for free today to get access to reading assessment tools,  and other incredible educational tools. 

Learn more about our features for teaching and learning remotely, and email us at hello@snapplify.com to chat about your specific needs.